


The Circles of Time

by LonelyPotatoes



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Depressing, Flowey (Undertale) Being an Asshole, Gen, Sad, Sans is Having a Bad Time (Undertale), Spoilers - Undertale Genocide Route, Spoilers - Undertale Pacifist Route, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29584449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelyPotatoes/pseuds/LonelyPotatoes
Summary: Timelines?Resets?Saves?What did any of this mean?Sans had no fucking idea, and no one else really knew either.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Hazy Dream

_Slowly, I drifted awake, my mind clouded by the fuzzy haze of my dream._

_Weirdly enough, it had been about the surface._

_Sun, shining on my face. Beautifully vibrant orange-red and purple hues swirling together, soft wind grazing our faces as we gazed in awe at the setting sun before us._

_**"What a lovely, unrealistic, unachievable dream."** _


	2. Bros Bein' Bros

Sans woke up with a jolt, his soul pounding in his chest. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he gripped his shirt in his fist, his panic slowly fading when he realized that he wasn't in any danger.

_Huh...weird._

It's not like he was in any immediate danger, right? Neither did he have a nightmare, which, nightmares already were something he didn't experience very often. That dream had been about the surface, he recalled, but realized that he only remembered bits and pieces of it. Hues of orange and purple colors swirled in his mind as he thought back to his dream, the faces of people he didn't recognize blinked through his memory, only to dissipate into nothing. He didn't understand what the dream was about or why it happened. Neither did Sans understand why he woke up in a panic. He felt that he should have ultimately been happy, having imagined the surface in his dreams, the beauty should have enraptured him, making him wish he could have slept a little bit longer. But instead, an unsettling feeling shook his bones as panic still wavered in his chest. Sans stood up, abandoning the warmth and comfort of his bed, simply deciding to shake the hazy thoughts from his mind as he got ready for the day.

Slowly, Sans sleepily shuffled around the room, rummaging through baskets of clean clothes, finding his signature blue hoodie and a clean pair of clothes. Despite his room's messy appearance and his lazy nature, (and the fact that Papyrus has called him a slob) Sans couldn't _not_ shower for more than a couple days. He's lazy, but not _that_ god-awful.

Stepping out of his room and onto their balcony that looked over the livingroom, Sans peered down, noticing that Papyrus was nowhere to be seen. Sniffing the air, he took note of the faint but very pungent smell of smoke that wafted through the air.

_Ah. Knew it._

Sans always knew whether or not his brother was home based on whether or not the air smelled like smoke. If it didn't smell, he knew that Papyrus was more than likely gone for training.

He smiled a little, yawned, and rubbed his sockets in a half-assed attempt to knock the sleep from his eyes. He then made his way to the bathroom, deciding to take a hot shower. Soon enough, Sans stood there in the steaming hot shower, enjoying the warmth and comforting noise that accompanied it, even though he didn't have any semblance of skin (or even organs, for that matter).

It felt nice though. Sans especially liked the sound of the water, and ever since he was little and learned about the rain cycle that humans experienced, he's always wanted to see it. All he's ever really known is snow, rain obviously not being something monsters in the underground experienced. Sans wished he could hear it, to bask in its comforting feeling.

After about fifteen minutes of spacing out, Sans snapped out of his little daze and turned off the shower, deciding to finally get dressed. None of that really mattered. More important things needed to be handled, and neither did he really think they'd be getting out of this hell-hole anytime soon anyway.

Finally stepping out of the overwhelmingly steamy bathroom, Sans slowly made his way downstairs, the creaks and groans of the floorboards telling Pap that he was finally awake. The thumping of boots against the tiles in the kitchen could be heard as Sans saw his brother pop his head out from the kitchen.

"hey pap, what _cat_ -tastrophy are you whipping up today?" He asked the taller sibling as he made his way through the living room, following Papyrus into the kitchen.

"Sans, that was awful, we don't even have a cat," Papyrus replied with a scowl playing on his face. He resumed what he was doing, picking up the splintered wooden spoon that he was stirring his sauce with.

With a shrug, Sans plopped himself onto an open counter, shoving his bony hands into his hoodie pockets. Looking around, the kitchen was an absolute disaster. Papyrus had used almost every single counter, crushed tomatoes and juice splattered on most of them. The only countertop that was saved from his hurricane, was the counter that Sans' bony ass currently sat on.

"heh, well, i have to _add_ -mit-"

"Oh god, Sans-"

"that i love to _add_ to your torture every day by making you listen to my puns."

"Ugh, Sans! How could you come downstairs, late, mind you, sit on the counter that I clearly need to use, then insult my glorious spaghetti with your absolutely _horrendous_ puns!" Papyrus ranted and raved, stomping the ground as though he was angry at the older brother. Although, deep down, Papyrus did enjoy the puns and, in fact, made them himself sometimes. He was just too damn stubborn to admit it because that feels almost like admitting defeat to Sans. And Papyrus was never particularly a fan of losing.

"what?" He played innocent, holding his hands up in mock defense. "i didn't do shit." Sans was clearly amused at his brother's frustration. Obviously, the torment was all in good faith, because that was just how the sibling's relationship with one another worked.

Papyrus groaned in mild frustration, deciding that arguing was pointless. Sans chuckled, noticing Papyrus admitting defeat. Arguing anything against his brother was pointless, it was pretty much a losing battle.

A comfortable silence quietly lapsed into the room as Sans watched Papyrus cook. But after a few minutes of this, the blue jacketed skeleton glanced at the clock above their couch, hopped down from his spot, and headed for the door.

"Sans, where are you going! You haven't even tried my spaghetti yet!" Sans heard the tall skeleton call from the kitchen. He chuckled at his doofus of a brother, wondering how he was so amazing.

"did you forget?" Sans called back, a shit-eating grin crawling its way onto his face.

His skull popped into the living room from the kitchen entryway, and a very confused-looking Papyrus stared at his brother, a hot plate of spaghetti in hand. "Our jobs bro, you're gonna be late if you keep fucking around in the kitchen."

His confusion quickly turned into shock. "Oh no!! How could I have forgotten!" Pap exclaimed, running back into the kitchen to put down the burnt pasta he offered me, then bolted out the door, sprinting to the other side of Snowdin for his station. Sans smirked, content with messing with his brother, then turned, locked the door, and began his long walk to his sentry station. How ironic that Sans had to remind his younger, more responsible, brother to go to work today.

A nap sounded nice, he thought, as he slowly made his way to his station through the snow crystals that blanketed his path. Any worry from that morning was gone, the only present concern in his mind being whether or not he was gonna catch shit from Undyne for taking a nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to go ahead and upload a proper chapter haha.  
> Side note, I think I might try updating every Monday and Friday. The only exception is today of course.  
> So expect something Friday!
> 
> Hope y'all liked this!!


	3. Rainfall

**_BANG!_**

Sans' head shot up from its place in his arms as a loud bang sounded throughout the quiet icy forest.

_Did-did someone come through those doors?_

Hastily rising from his place at his sentry station, Sans stumbled through the forest in an effort to reach the noise. He had no idea what the noise was or what could have come from that direction. It could have either been a human or monster, or that kind lady he spoke to through the doors. He had no idea what to expect really.

Sans finally slowed down his pace as he approached the area, carefully picking through the shrubbery and ankle-deep snow that caked his fuzzy pink slippers.

There, amongst the thick snow, he spotted what he could only assume to be a human. They sat on their knees, fists clenched against the door as though they had been banging on them.

_What the hell...?_

The human only appeared to be an innocent child who adorned a blue sweater with two hot pink stripes running through it, matching blue shorts, and a pair of brown, ankle-length boots. Their curly brown hair framed their head, but there were no other defining characteristics about them. Well...other than the fact that they were a fucking _human._ That was certainly a noticeable feature about them.

The child's shoulders shook as they sat there, the realization of them crying struck Sans. Although he felt bad for the child, he didn't want to get near them in fear of scaring them off, as well as a twinge of fear that sparked in his soul.

Several minutes of shaking shoulders and sniffling later, the child stood, hugged themselves, and anxiously started down the path to Snowdin. Curiosity struck Sans, who decided to walk in the trees as they walked, following and observing the kid.

Only a couple of minutes later, Sans took a shortcut and began walking in the middle of the path behind them.

**_CRACK_**

He suddenly felt a stick crack beneath his weight, the sound cracking throughout the forest. Glancing down for only a second to process what he did, he suddenly teleported into the trees again, unwilling to be seen by the tiny child. The skeleton wanted to greet the kid but he certainly didn't want to scare them. Because fear leads to violence, and violence leads to war. Angering the child and possibly more humans on the surface seemed like a sure-fire way of getting everyone killed.

Staring out at the road again, Sans witnessed the kid whip around to see the source of the noise. They carefully approached the broken branch, knelt down, and picked up one of the pieces as they warily surveyed their surroundings. The child then stood again, holding the stick in front of them defensively, waiting for the supposed attacker to reveal himself.

Sans simply followed the child until they came up to the cage Papyrus set up to trap humans. He teleported several feet behind the kid again, wanting to warn them that he himself wasn't the one to worry about, but it was Pap who really wanted to capture a human. It's not that Sans really cared about capturing the human, he just didn't want anything bad to happen.

"human..." The short skeleton started, cringing at the unintentional ominous tone. "Don't you know how to greet a new pall? Turn around and shake my hand."

Slowly, the human turned around, shoulders trembling as they did, on the verge of tears. The child shakily held out their hand, ready for the worst. Sans grasped the kid's hand, and a farting noise could be heard, squeezed out from between both hands.

The kid immediately started giggling at the noise, no longer as fearful as they once were. "heheh, the ol' whoopie cushion in the hand trick is _always_ funny, am i right kid?" They nodded vigorously, very relieved that they weren't actually in any danger.

"i'm sans, sans the skeleton. i'm supposed to be on watch right now, y'know...watching for humans, hunting them." Sans began, casually talking to the human as though they weren't a threat at all. All things considered, Sans should have been afraid that the small child would harm him, but he felt as though they weren't a threat.

"i'm not a huge fan of it, but my brother papyrus is a human hunting FANATIC." Sans continued, the child staring at him intently, a bit anxious about the words that fell from his mouth.

"but how bout' you make him happy and go through these bars? don't worry, he's not actually harmful, he wouldn't hurt a fly." The small kid nodded slowly, and cautiously walked through the gate, Sans following suit.

The day was then filled with puzzles, japes, and dumb antics, the air filled with joyous laughter and shitty jokes. Sans wasn't there all the time, sometimes walking away from Papyrus and the child to then simply take a shortcut into the forest to observe from afar, just in case something happened. Nothing happened in the end, the human unwilling to harm anyone or anything that crossed their path.

Days passed since their arrival, then weeks, Sans observing from afar the whole time. Despite his initial worry, the kid surpassed anyone's expectations, advancing throughout the underground, fully intending to free them all. It was exciting to everyone, no one had expected this in their lives, especially considering it had been years since the last human had arrived.

The last stages before freedom had been a blur, many things happening within just a few days. The child, whose name they learned to be Frisk, finally met with the King, Mr. Asgore. Sans wasn't necessarily there until after Frisk's encounter, as Papyrus wished to gather everyone up to see the barrier be broken. There, Sans met the woman he had been telling jokes through the RUIN doors to, unknowingly talking to the Queen, who had been gone previously.

Obviously, this came as a shock to everyone around, but unfortunately, the reunion was cut short with a demonic flower appearing out of nowhere, capturing us all in an attempt to steal our souls to take over the world. Everything became blurry and confusing after that, only bits and pieces were what anyone could remember, but eventually, Frisk broke the barrier.

They saved us all.

Staring out at the setting sun was beautiful. The hues of reds and purple rippled together in soothing swirls, fluffy clouds matching the colors as they floated before the sun.

Patting Frisk's head, Sans couldn't help but feel proud for their undeniable DETERMINATION to save the monsters who were once trapped. He never thought the day would come.

An air of nostalgia swept over Sans, deja-vu hitting him hard as he glanced at everyone's joyous, crying faces. The feeling was shrugged off, Sans only wishing to savor the moment in front of him.

A month passed, and with a lot of convincing from the monsters to the humans, they all had homes, Sans and Papyrus' house being almost the exact same one as they had in Snowdin. If they liked the one they had before, there really wasn't any point in changing anything.

Sans now rested in bed, the time being around one or two in the morning. Sleep threatened to drag him into darkness, but instead, he chose to think about what happened within the past few months. He stared up at the ceiling, enjoying the calming quiet that surrounded his town.

Suddenly, quiet tapping began to sound from his rooftop.

_The hell...?_ He wondered as he crawled out of bed, stumbling towards his window across the room. Sans dragged his cozy blanket off the bed as he went, tightly wrapping it around his head and shoulders like a shawl, then gently opened his curtains with a free hand. The soft orange glow from street lamps filtered through the glass pane, softly illuminating his face as

Sans watched as the clouds rolled, creating soft thunder as he realized that it had started to rain.

This was something Sans wanted to witness for years, ever since he was a baby bone.

Smiling, he dragged a rickety wooden chair to the window sill, opened up his window a bit to allow more sound to enter his room, and sat. He propped his elbows on the little space he had on the sill, and rested his head in his arms, listening. He had no idea how much time passed, and neither did he care. He was at peace.

Soon, before he knew it, he was slowly lulled into a calming, quiet sleep.

_**Let the fun begin.**_

Sans shot up in bed once more, with a jolt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I changed my mind. Pretty much, I'm just gonna update randomly just to avoid missing a deadline because of school and stuff. I apologize because it might be slower updates sometimes or I'll get things out pretty fast, who knows.
> 
> But I hope y'all enjoyed it!


	4. Huh. Weird.

_Was...was any of that real?_ Sans questioned in his mind, completely bewildered. _That couldn't have just been a dream...right?_

Without much thought, Sans scrambled from his bed, threw on his jacket, and walked out to the balcony. Peering through a window downstairs from where he stood, Sans realized that he was dreaming after all. He saw the snow on the ground outside, knowing for a fact that he was, in fact, in Snowdin.

Pushing his thoughts away, Sans noted the hint of smoke in the air as he made his way downstairs and into the entryway of the kitchen.

"Hey, pap." He simply said as he seated himself on a countertop once more, and began staring out of a window.

Sans felt unsettled by the fresh memories of his dream. He remembered bits and pieces that blurred together, but the most prominent thing he remembered, was talking to a woman named Toriel, and a little human named Frisk. Sans sort of remembered seeing a monster capture them all, but those memories were much fuzzier than the ones about the woman and human. It was nice though, he wasn't complaining about having a good dream, but it all felt surreal.

"Sans?"

It didn't make any sense though. Why was he remembering people that he had no idea who they were? Sans remembered blurry faces, but any other defining characteristics from anyone was lost. He shouldn't be able to dream about people he didn't even know, right? Nothing was adding up.

Until he thought about the human. This had been the same day that they came around in his dream, right? He needed to see if they were gonna come through those doors. If he found that out, that would either confirm that Sans was quite possibly seeing the future.

Sans didn't know which would be more likely but despite that, he hopped off the counter to head out the door. Or, that was the intention, until a soft gloved hand grabbed his wrist and spun him around.

"SANS!"

Sans snapped back to reality suddenly, realizing that his brother had been attempting to get his attention the entire time he was zoned out.

"What has gotten into you?! I called your name twice because you were ignoring me, then you don't respond, and _then_ you hop off the counter to leave without a word! What has gotten into you, brother!" A worried expression crossed his brother's features, concern lacing his words.

Sans was obviously taken aback by this, and took a moment to respond. "s-sorry pap, i guess i just spaced out for a minute." He said sheepishly, putting a hand on the back of his neck, or...rather spine, in embarrassment.

Papyrus sighed and crouched down to his brother's level, putting hands on both of his shoulders. "Sans, is there anything that I should know about?"

"nah, not really bro," The shorter of the two started simply, "just had a weird dream about the surface and i thought it was real."

Sans gave Papyrus a soft smile, and the taller skeleton suddenly pulled him into a hug.

"Well, if you need anything brother, I'm always here for you."

"thanks pap."

\----

Despite the fact that Sans loved his brother a metric fuck ton, and would always be there for him in any time of need, Sans didn't exactly give Papyrus anything to help him with. Sans planned to keep his issues of the repeated dreams, major deja-vu, and the occasional nightmares of gold to himself. None of it made sense but he would rather keep these things to himself than have Papyrus worry.

With that being said, Sans slowly walked towards his sentry station after walking with Papyrus to his, deciding to maybe take a nap.

As he sat down, Sans began to rest his skull in his arms, when suddenly he heard a small sound come from the snow in front of his station. Glancing up, he realized that a small, yellow flower popped up a few feet in front of his station, bouncing happily on its stem.

"Howdy!" The monster said with a wide smile, staring up at Sans.

"heya." Sans simply said, lifting up his head from where it was just about to lay down on his arms. "need somethin' pall?"

The flower seemed puzzled, a confused expression crossing his face as he glanced around at his surroundings. "Oh goodness, I'm just a little lost." He said, brows furrowing. "You see, I just have no idea where I am."

It was San's turn to stare at him with a puzzled expression. He didn't know how a monster could get lost in the underground of all places, and neither had Sans ever seen him before in his life.

"you new here? i've never seen you around."

The monster nodded his head. "Yup! I just came from behind the RUIN doors! I lived most of my life there and this is my first time venturing outside."

The short skeleton nodded, unsure of whether he had parents, or his intentions of appearing out of nowhere. "well, there's a town called Snowdin if you follow this path." Sans said, pointing a bony finger down the path.

"there's food and some real nice people if ya wanna head there."

The flower immediately brightened up, his smile returning happily. "Okay, thanks!" He was just about to disappear under the ground again when Sans spoke up.

"hey, by the way, what's your name kid?"

The plant froze suddenly and whipped around to face Sans again.

"Oh, silly me, how rude of me to not introduce myself!" He exclaimed bashfully.

"My name's Flowey, Flowey the flower!"

"and i'm sans, sans the skeleton."

With a nod of his head, Flowey said, "Nice to meet ya! I hope we can be good friends!"

He then dipped back into the ground, disappearing from Sans' view. The only evidence that the flower existed was the small disturbance in the snow from where he came and left.

_Huh._

_Weird._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Took longer than expected to get out haha.
> 
> Sans had a "dream" over a pacifist route, but everything was hazy and there were only specific things he remembered, like Frisk and Toriel. Colors were also very vivid to him as well. He remembered being captured before his soul was taken, but didn't remember that it was specifically Flowey. He primarily remembered vines and thorns, not specific characteristics.
> 
> And he was sleepy so things were even hazier for him.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey hey, this is my first time attempting to finish an entire work. Just bear with me, this first part was like a prologue, and it definitely won't make sense right now.  
> I'm not 100% sure where I wanna take this story, so if it's choppy, I apologize. But honestly, I'm super nervous about posting this haha.
> 
> Anyway, sit back, relax, grab a snack, some tissues too probably, and enjoy the ride because it's gonna be bumpy!


End file.
